nevertooold

We arrive at the Athens airport at approximately 2:00 pm on a Friday and want to immediately begin to drive to see Corinth, Epidaurus, Olympia and Delphi before returning to Athens.

We are looking for a suggested route which will take us to see these sites along with other recommended ones, allowing us to hopefully return to Athens 2 1/2 - 3 days later, on Sunday evening or relatively early on Monday morning.

Thanks for all responses.

stanbr

Just my opinion but I think you are doing way too much in 3 days unless you plan to just take pictures out the car window as you drive by. Right now your plan includes, by my rough estimate, 18 hours of driving.

Olympia is a 4 hour drive from Corinth and probably 6 hours from Epidaurus.

Here is what I think.

If you arrive at 2 you will be on the road by 3 and will head out to Corinth. You will arrive by 4 and you can see the canal, Ancient Corinth and Ancient Nemia. These three will take at least two hours in total for a brief visit to each. Since it is the weekend perhaps the latter two will still be open that late.

By the way Ancient Nemia was a sister city to Olympia and still has a stadium partially restored temple and a good museum. Nemia is just lacking a good marketing department. I am not suggesting that it compares to Olympia but it will save you about 10 hours of driving,

From there you head south to Epidaurus. That drive will take at least two hours because it is in hilly country. I doubt if Epidaurus will even be open that late.

Instead I suggest that you head to Nauplion after Corinth and spend the night in the charming old city with Neoclassic architecture and streets paved with marble. You should consider booking a room now because Nauplion is a favourite weekend get away for Athenians and can be pretty booked up on a Friday night.

Frankly I would spend a couple of nights in Nuplion and visit Epadaurus and say Mycenae and Ancient Tiyrns. (The birthplace of Hercules) All are easily done in a day trip from Nauplion. To go further afield you might even consider heading out to Sparti and visit Mystras, the mountainside city that was the last home of the Byzantines.

That will leave you that last day to head to Delphi and back to Athens.

If Delphi and Olympia are must sees for you then you are going to have to drop Epidaurus because it is in a completely different direction.
Here are some pictures of the trip we did in this area.
Only the first 36 photos show you the area I was suggesting as we then went on to visit the Mani and Monemvassia both of which are simply too far to visit in 3 days.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/570...sFWOw?start=24

nevertooold

Stanbr - I didn't realize that Epidaurus was so much of an obstacle, as various reports on Fodors seem to throw it into ther mix as if it were a convenient location.

If we skip Epidaurus, can you advise as to a good itinerary for mainly Olympia and Delphi, which are our 2 main priorities?

Also, we are now considering, depending on your comments otherwise, arriving in Athens on Friday at 1:35, making our way to the Acropolis immediately (with our pull baggage, as we recall the storage facility at the Parthenon will accomodate baggage), and then leaving early Saturday morning for a 2 day journey, returning to Piraeus Sunday evening for a ferry to Naxos.

Is this at all doable, or should we just "bite the bullet" and keep the land tour to a 3 day travel?

Thanks again.

stanbr

Epadarus is a little out of the way but it is easy to get to if you have time and are not planning Delphi and Olympia all in 48 hours.
If you skip Epadauras and head out to Corinth as you planned you could stop in for a while then head out on the longish drive to Olympia and find a room for that first night. You can get to the site before the tour buses arrive and spend half a day there. You can then head back to Delphi and arrive that night and stay over. Same game plan for Delphi get there first thing in the morning beat the buses spend half a day and then run for Athens in the afternoon. You will probably have a slow drive into Athens because you will be heading back into town with all the weekenders.
If you were to take that extra half day you originally planned you could slip into Nauplion on the Sunday night after most of the crowds are gone, really enjoy it the for a few hours and a bit of the next morning and then take the 2 and a half hour drive back tot Athens airport and then take the metro to the port for that 5 pm blue star ferry.

If you want to catch the 5 pm Blue Star on Sunday evening I think you might find that a bit tight.

Hey I see you are heading out to our favourite island Naxos.
Here are some pictures.
Enjoy planning
http://travel.webshots.com/album/552001505EYxVYT

nevertooold

Stanbr - the true reason that we are going to Naxos in the first place is because of the way in which you have been describing it for the last number of years - my wife would never forgive me if we were to pass it up on this trip to Greece!

Anyways, our time allowances now seem to allow the following, for which I would, again, ask your advice:

Day 1 (1:45pm)- arrive in Athens and visit Parthenon

Day 2 (8am)to - pick up car early am and visit Peloponnese Day 5 (5pm) and Delphi, departing for Naxos

Day 6 to - Naxos
Day 11 (1:45pm)

Day 11 (3:45pm) to - Santorini
Day 15 (11:25am)

Day 15 (11:25am) - fly to Milan

First : with 4 days at our disposal, would you again advise as to a recommended mainland itinerary;

Second : have we properly allocated the time to Santorini and Naxos?

Stabnbr, thanks again for your time and help.

By the way, are you by any chance Canadian? We are from Toronto.

stanbr

Hi nevertoold. I was born in Toronto, grew up in Kingston and lived in Ottawa and London before heading out west to Calgary and now on Vancouver Island. I had a plan!

I think you are starting to give yourself a good workable plan.
With enough time to enjoy and experience the pace of life in Greece.

With 4 days in the Peloponnese I would still highly recommend you make your first night in Nuaplion. It is probably my favourite city in Greece and it can take you at least a full day just to explore the old town area and the fortresses.

That would leave you time to head south to Mystras and perhaps Monemvassia. It is a 15th century fortified town and you can stay inside the walls in period rooms. Even our Greek friends were impressed that we stayed there. In fact we enjoyed it so much that we stayed two nights. Your imagination just runs wild staying and our Greek friend expressed it the best when she said "Ah Monemvassia it just makes you want to play Pirate."

That should give you enough time to fit in Delphi on the way back to Athens.

Ah Naxos we have been going there since 1996 and will be visiting again in early June for our 7th time.

Naxos has so many places to explore including a smattering of antiquities and quaint mountain villages where you can sit in the square and just relax an see how the locals experience life.
It also has some of the best beaches in Greece and a lovely town with an old market area. Be sure to rent a car and do some exploring.
I have a more extensive set of Naxos pictures which will give you an even better idea of what to expect.
http://travel.webshots.com/album/570796960FtMsPF

I personally believe that every first timer should visit Santorini and if you can afford it find a hotel with a Caldera view. Santorini is all about that view. Some people think that a week on Santorini is not enough and many others feel that 2 to 3 days is lots. Personally I am one of the latter group. I would add a day to Naxos and cut a day from Santorini.
What time of year are you going?